Revision as of 19:55, 19 January 2012

The Haskell Hackathon is an international, grassroots collaborative coding festival with a simple focus: build and improve Haskell libraries, tools, and infrastructure.

Hac Boston will be held January 20 to 22, 2012 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, rooms 4-159 and 4-261. It is open to all — you do not have to be a Haskell guru to attend. All you need is a basic knowledge of Haskell, a willingness to learn, and a project you're excited to help with (or a project of your own to work on).

There will be lots of hacking, some talks, good food, and, of course, fun!

1 Registration

We have room for approximately 80 people, and have just under 50 people registered so far. If you plan to be in the area and are thinking about attending, please register. Registration is free, and open to everyone. If you like, you can also
list yourself as an attendee. Then you might want to visit

Although the hackathon won't officially kick off until 2:30pm on Friday, you are welcome to arrive Thursday evening or Friday morning if it makes for easier travel. If enough people are around and interested, we can arrange pre-hackathon activities.

4 Before you arrive

Pick out a couple of projects to work on and familiarise yourself with them, or bring your own project(s) to work on. See the projects page for a list of projects people plan to work on. If you plan to work on your own project, be sure to list it on the projects page and set up a public repository if you don't already have one, so that other people can help hack on your project.

Install an up to date Haskell toolchain: at least ghc and cabal-install. If you don't already have these installed (or need to install from scratch on the laptop you're bringing), the easiest way is probably to install the Haskell Platform.

5 Talks

If you'd be interested in giving a short (15-20 minute) talk, put your name and the subject of your talk on the talks page. There will be a projector and whiteboard available.

7.2 By train

Amtrak serves Boston South Station, station code BOS. Service from cities in the Northeast is available on both the Northeast Regional train and the marginally faster Acela Express. These trains also stop at Boston Back Bay (BBY). South Station is the better choice if taking transit to MIT, but Back Bay is closer for walking.

From certain points in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, you can take MBTA commuter rail, which arrives at South Station or North Station.

7.3 By bus

8 Getting to MIT

8.1 By human power

Cambridge is a very walkable city. It is feasible to walk to MIT from many points in Cambridge, Boston, and Brookline. Cambridge is also very bikeable, but maybe not in January.

8.2 By public transit

MIT is close to Kendall Station on the Red Line subway. The Red Line connects to Boston South Station (and its rail and bus terminals) and the rest of the MBTA rapid transit network. MIT is also served by MBTA buses. Google Maps can plan rail and bus trips.

From the Kendall stop on the Red Line, you will need to make your way to building 4. You'll exit on Main St, and you want to go south. For reference, the Marriott and other large buildings are arranged around a courtyard north of Main St.

Next to the subway exit and the MIT Press Bookstore, there is a path which quickly becomes Carleton St. Follow Carleton south past MIT Medical (and maybe some tasty food trucks) until you're forced to veer right onto Amherst St. Continue straight off the end of Amherst, passing the tall Green Building and the pointy metal sculpture. Eventually your path will be obstructed by the interconnected complex of buildings 2, 4, and 6. Go inside and make your way to 4-159. The local inhabitants are friendly and will be happy to point you in the right direction if you get lost.